Drama Melayu For Dummies

During my now on-going-away holidays of about one month plus, I would spend most of my time at home and some part of that time watching television. And since my grandmother has now acquired a taste of watching homemade dramas while at the same time using her seniority to grasp the remote control from our hands, I joined in. From what I can conclude from three weeks of watching 3-4 local dramas & a sinetron is that no wonder Malaysians are becoming stupider! Here are some points generally noted when watching these series:

1. Always starts with a Malay ballad i.e. "lagu jiwang karat". However, new dramas portraying hipper, younger & sexier actors and actresses would have catchy themes songs.
   
2. Usually portrays Malay families from different social background (rich & poor) or same social background (rich & rich), which usually has to do with the corporate world.
3. Almost always has Dato' Jalaluddin Hassan as the rich businessman dad. However, after Janji Diana he has taken a hiatus I think. He acted in Tangisan Bulan Madu but got killed off in the earlier episodes.
   
4. Mind-numbing plot. The characters would never have any common sense on how to solve the problems. If the conflict, as there'll always be, is resolved in the first episode then there won't be any drama.
5. In true spirit of soap operas, the main characters are romantically involved with some villains thrown in to try and break apart their undying love.
6. The main theme is none other than love with minor themes such as greed ("Kita mesti dapatkan harta dia!"), trust ("Aku tahu kau keluar dengan perempuan jalang itu lagi!") & jealousy ("Aku pastikan hubungan Tatia dengan Rafli akan hancus!")
   
7. Since it is a soap opera, it must be hundreds of episodes long! There's no such thing as breaking it into seasons; if it has to stretch for one year, so be it!